Is Your Online Reputation Solid? I hope so, It’s All You Have.
This isn’t going to be another Real name vs. Pen name post, although it surely fits as we pointed out.
(Feel free to leave thoughts there as well; it’s an interesting conversation.)
Basically, when all is said and done, most people create an online business for one purpose - to make money online. Some want to make a few extra bucks, others want to make a full-time income.
But regardless of everyones individual goals, I think you will agree that we all want to make additional income from our online businesses.
In order to do this you need to sell.
Whether it’s a product, a service or just to get someone to take a desired action - it’s all about being able to sell whatever it is your promoting.
So it goes without saying that it is very important to use powerful selling words to really convey each and every little benefit of your product to convince your visitors to take action.
It is certainly not uncommon to see popular trigger words like “unbelievable” and “sensational” or other similar words in most great…and not so great…sales letters.
There is a fine line however, when using hype on your sales pages and if used responsibly it can be a very powerful tool that can explode your conversion rates and skyrocket your profits. Notice the hype used there? 
However there are a number of marketers who cross this line and purposely use hype, halve truths and even total lies to mislead their readers.
The sad truth is, there are hundreds, if not thousands of unethical marketers with low-no ethical standards just waiting to take your hard-earned money by using these practices to embellish the truth.
We’ve all seen them, the pictures of big fancy houses, cars & boats; the fake “screenshots” of imaginary bank accounts, and so on…truly sad.
What it all boils down to is, if you’re selling anything online, your reputation and the trust of your potential customers is EVERYTHING.
Your reputation and credibility is all you have and if its tarnished for whatever reason, it is quite possible that your online business will never recover.
While it is OK to use a small amount of hype to encourage your readers to check out what it is you are promoting, you should never mislead your visitors into thinking you are not who you say you are, or that your earning capacity is not what it really is.
Your reputation is all you have online - so don’t blow it! There’s a real good chance you’ll never get it back.
I know your mind is racing with thoughts…jot them down and we’ll chat about it
Never stop pushing forward!
Dennis
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Tags: Business Reputation, Ethical Marketing, Ethics, Hype, MMO, online business, promotion
October 27th, 2008 at 9:42 am
You don’t have a second chance with reputation and I think it’s important to be honest and transparent to your readers. Some sort of what you see is what you get attitude. Good post mate!
October 27th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Well, money is the evil of all thing and in most cases, it takes away this little value called ‘ethic’. It’s easier to lose credibility than to gain any trust so once it’s gone, you need to reach the sky to get it back.
Very insightful article and a timely reminder to those who are into internet marketing.
Yan
October 27th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Simply said honesty is the best policy. It holds true for every form of business.
Adam
October 27th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Thanks guys, I’m glad you liked it. It’s very true, “eventually” your readers/clients/customers will see right through you and then you’re done.
No matter what form of marketing you do.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
You can spend a lifetime building a positive reputation and unfortunately it only takes one time to ruin it. Always protect and take pride in your reputation and do whatever you can to protect it.
October 27th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Yeppers - very rare if ever that you get that rep back.
October 27th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
great blog very insightful and vrey interesting. Its so true because without building a solid reputation its been simply impossible to sell anything that you want to promote.
October 28th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Thanks Almir and welcome!
October 28th, 2008 at 2:15 am
I don’t really trust it when someone endorse a product “very very” hard. there should be “something” there
btw, what happen to your commentLuv plugin? you still have the logo on your sidebar.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:19 am
The internet is a small place, mislead or cheat your customers and it will soon come back to haunt you. The same people who provide good feedback about your goods and services on-line can just as easily provide negative publicity. Once its up there it will have a big negative impact on your business. You are right honesty is the best policy.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:26 am
Hey Dennis!
gotta say, I sure hope I am more than my “online reputation” and that I do have more than just that! :P:P
I never started out using my full name, I do use my real first name though and my user names on forums and such is always the same as well.
The reason I did not start out using my last name is because, well it does read completely unpronouncable and hard to market to me, but I guess that is all a matter of preferences in the end. Maybe in hindsight I should have used it, maybe I will in future, but it would only be related to some websites not to all of them.
I mean, and this is where I agree with Jackie (she commented on the post you linked to in this one, yes I went to check it out before commenting :P) at times you just want to test out things and branch out a bit without it being directly related to your main website.
Would I have taken that same decision if my name were more “international”? Probably, most likely it would have been different and I would have used my full name instead.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:39 am
I hate hype and BS, it is always apparent and transparent on those sales pages. I only recommend products I use and love and so I believe and I certainly hope that my recommendations are genuine and in the best interest of my readers.
JR @ Internet Marketing Strategies´s last blog post..How-To Measure Your SEO Efforts
October 28th, 2008 at 7:39 am
Acakadut - I’m not sure what you mean by “something there”?
My CommentLuv appears to be working, is your feed ok?
October 28th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Khaled - Exactly right, it’s very difficult if ever possible to take it down..change it around, etc.
October 28th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Mirjam - Your reputation IS all you have no matter what name you use (and you have a good excuse for that).
When online, we have no faces, voices, real conversations face to face or any of that Your written word is your rep and if you lose it, your done.
What else is there?
October 28th, 2008 at 8:01 am
JR - Ah a woman after my own heart
There are only 3 ways I EVER recommend something, or advise others to recommend also..
1. Owning/Using the something first is of course the BEST way, as your enthusiasm and honestly comes shining through like no other.
This however is not always feasible for newbies and/or those on a real limited budget.
2. Due Dilligence - research the hell outa something and your right under actually owning it.
3. Actually KNOWING the creator of the something. If for whatever reason I fully trust and respect the owner/creator of a particular product or service, that’s good enough for me to put my name behind it.
That said, whenever I recommend something I am fully transparent as to which “number” I’m using to recommend it.
Also - even if I never intend to use a certain something myself…say it doesn’t fit into my business model or whatever….I may still recommend it if I truly feel it may work well for others in certain situations.
Phew! Great discussion.
Btw, don’t get me started on sales pages, like the never ending testimonials from all the SAME PEOPLE when you KNOW that they are just scratching each others backs….they never even laid eyes on the something in question. LOL
October 28th, 2008 at 8:49 am
[...] very glad she has, as it is very important. In the comments section of my last post regarding your online reputation, she [...]
October 28th, 2008 at 9:25 am
“something there”, I meant “something fishy” like they just want to get the sales / commission, but they have never actually tried the product they recommend.
@commentluv, dunno, it just doesn’t appear on my browser … LOL
I even checked your html and could not find the code … LOL … so paranoid of me :p
October 28th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Just be honest and don’t put money before everything is my policy in this. Thanks for this great post and reminder!
October 28th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I completely agree, building your own brand is probably one of the most important things you can do to get credibility.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Acakadut - i see what you mean, and yes it’s much too often
October 28th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Salwa - Welcome, and thanks for the input!
October 28th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Bryn - If not THE most important! Thanks for dropping by
October 28th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Good point…just 5 minutes ago I learnt the hard way what it means not being able to back up what you state on your site (rental of properties)… Oh, well…any time a customer asks you of something which you do not have you make sure to get it!
October 28th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Online reputation management really is very important. I’ve found that it can be a two way street, especially when dealing with larger businesses.
This is to say that sometimes your competitors will not be working on bettering their reputation, but instead tarnishing yours.
Most of what you do online is fairly obvious to a manual review, so it is important to run a tight ship.
October 28th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Bostad - You raise two very good points…
1. If you can’t immediately accommodate, they make sure they know you will get back to them.
2. If your site says something, make sure it’s true
October 28th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Very true Tiger, on all points.
October 28th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
i hope its solid. So far, i don’t face any big problem about my online reputation.
October 29th, 2008 at 4:41 am
hey Dennis,
your comment luv definitely isn´t working
LOL now we don´t even have faces online? And here I had my blog up and running for well over 8 months, with a picture of my face on a very visible spot!
Come to think of it, I have put my face on more websites where I feel it is important to show I am a real person, not just a name sending content out into the world
But going back to reputation … I feel it also depends on which way you use to monetize, I mean, if you focus on income through adsense, do you feel you really need to build up reputation?
October 29th, 2008 at 5:49 am
@ Dennis
I HATE those long, on going sales pages, just give the main points of what I need to know about the products:
1. What 2. Why I needed it and 3. How Much,
These fools go on and on signing their praises and who can believe this crap???
I like you’re number #3 I used that recently on my blog, after all we cannot always use every product but I know that they sources are credible.
October 29th, 2008 at 6:05 am
Tivitune - Good to hear! We’ll keep our eyes on a
October 29th, 2008 at 6:08 am
Mirjam - Sorry my friend, check out my latest post… http://www.directsaleswebmarketing.com/commentluv-down-but-workin-on-it/
Your question is ironic, seeing how it is the olden days adsense site (crap) builders that started ruining their reps
Build decent content Google lovin’ adsense sites and you’re golden
October 29th, 2008 at 6:10 am
JR - Yeppers, Unfortunately it’s been proven time and again that the long letters work…..of course it’s the long letter writers that say that, so umm, hmm…
I always scroll in jumps, but whatever LOL
I’m glad #3 has gone over well, I was a little worried of being slammed as it might not seem too far off from all the testimonial crap we see
October 29th, 2008 at 8:49 am
[...] Faking your subscriber count is the lamest and dumbest marketing gimmick. Don’t fall into the trap, it’s a sure-fire way of losing your credibility fast. There’s a real good chance you’ll never get it back. [...]
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
[...] only that, but remember that your good eBay reputation will make you a great [...]
November 4th, 2008 at 3:17 am
not only having solid reputation but having a good reputation will lead you to a best result.
November 4th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Horse - Yep, a good solid rep is going to mean the difference between success or failure in the long run.